Tuesday, 13 August 2024

Blue Ribbon Foundation

Paul MERCURIO (Hastings) (13:53): I had the great pleasure of attending the inaugural Blue Ribbon Foundation fundraising event at the Mornington Racecourse about a week and a half ago. It was a fantastic event and a great place to go, and great locals turned up. It was only after the fact that I realised my butcher’s parents actually put the event together, so to Rhonda and Darryl Nation, congratulations on a great event and for raising over $50,000.

There were lots of auction items, and there were two items that I was really interested in. One item was a lot of great local wines signed by the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and the other lot was six bottles of wine signed by Peter Dutton. The auctioneer started and put the Albo wines up for $500. No-one on my table made a bid. We did have the member for Mornington on my table and also the federal member for Flinders on my table. Anyway, I eventually put my hand up and bought the wine. The next lot up was Peter Dutton’s. Everyone thought it would go nuclear, and I am very sorry to say it fizzled. No-one made an offer, especially on my table. The auctioneer did have it at $500 and dropped it to $200, when we finally got a bid, not on my table, and it slowly crept up to $350 – great. The moral of the story is I am always happy to put my hand up to support my team, whereas those on the other side clearly are not.